Monsanto’s new seeds could be a tech dead-end

When I wrote recently about the next generation of genetically engineered seeds, I was in truth referring to the next next generation. The fact is that the next actual generation of seeds is already out of the lab and poised for approval by the USDA.

And I’m not talking about Monsanto’s recently approved “drought-tolerant” seeds, which the USDA itself has observed are no more drought-tolerant than existing conventional hybrids.

No, the “exciting” new seeds are simply resistant to more than one
kind of pesticide. Rather than resisting Monsanto’s glyphosate-based
Roundup alone, they will now also be resistant to Dow AgroScience’s
pesticide 2,4-D.